Cruise ship leaves Australia for Europe; 3 dead

A German cruise ship has left Western Australia state after a three-week stay during which three people on board died of COVID-19.

The Artania began its journey from Fremantle back to Europe, keeping to its scheduled early afternoon departure time Saturday.

A total of 79 crew and passengers from the Artania tested positive for coronavirus in Western Australia.

They included a 42-year-old crewman from the Philippines who died in a Perth hospital on Thursday, raising the state's toll to seven.

The ship's captain, Morten Hansen, said the crew member had been with the company since 2006 and most recently served as a motorman, describing his death as heartbreaking. Two other people from the Artania died last week, one a passenger in his 70s, and the other a 69-year-old crewman.

Some of the crew who are expected to return home on a charter flight were removed from the ship on Saturday and transferred to a Perth hotel. The ship is expected to make stops in Indonesia and the Philippines en route to Germany.

The ship had been scheduled to depart earlier this month before being granted an additional 14-day quarantine period by the Australian Border Force. Some 219 of the state's 541 cases have been among people linked to cruise ships.